Decision details

a) To note actual income and expenditure compared to the final budget for 2017/18 (outturn position).
b) To review revenue and capital budget variances with explanations.
c) To review specific requests to carry forward residual revenue funding from 2017/18 to 2018/19 and recommend to Council for approval.
e) To review specific requests to carry forward residual capital funding from 2017/18 to 2018/19 and recommend to Council for approval.

Matter for Decision

The report presented a summary of the 2017/18 outturn position (actual income and expenditure) for all portfolios, compared to the final budget for the year.  The position for revenue and capital was reported and variances from budgets were highlighted.  Explanations had been reported to individual Executive Councillors / Scrutiny Committees and were reproduced here.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources to recommend to Council to:

 

i) Carry forward requests totalling £1,330k General Fund revenue funding from 2017/18 to 2018/19, as detailed in Appendix C (as amended).

 

ii) Carry forward requests of £14,111k capital resources from 2017/18 to 2018/19 to fund rephased net capital spending, as detailed in Appendix D - Overview (including £10,313k General Fund and £3,798k relating to the Housing Capital Investment Plan).

 

iii) (Request from Communities Portfolio:) allocation of an additional £100,000 from General Fund reserves to be made available for the Community Grants budget in 2019/20 to help fund projects delivered by the voluntary and community sector which will reduce poverty.

 

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

 

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

 

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Finance, she confirmed that corrections referred to in the 2017/18 Revenue and Capital Outturn, Carry Forward and Significant Variances (S&EP) report would flow through to this report.

 

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

     i.        Referred to the Environmental Improvement Project (EIP) programme and noted the report detailed an underspend but commented that there was an over subscription of projects from Area Committees and a backlog of projects being delivered. Questioned whether the Team was sufficiently resourced.

    ii.        Referred to the corporate performance indicators and noted that although the car parks were being used less, this did not relate to the income generated. Questioned if there should be a long term strategy for how the council intended to use council car parks.

 

The Executive Councillor said the following in response to Members questions:

       i.          Referred to p144 of the agenda and the vehicle replacement programme for streets and open spaces and commented that although £690k had been spent, the vehicles had not been delivered.

     ii.          Commented that there were a lot of EIP projects that needed to be progressed and this needed to be looked at.

    iii.          Commented that the council needed to get income from its assets (ie car parks) but also acknowledged the desire to restrict access to the city by car. Also commented that car parks (as assets) may not have the same use as they did in the past.

 

The Chief Executive said the following in response to Members’ questions:

     i.        Commented in relation to a request for there to be a strategic policy for the council’s assets, that there were a lot of unknowns with the Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership’s transport plans.  The council’s Head of Commercial Services was aware of these issues but until the transport solutions were understood it was a bit early to have a strategy. A report would be brought to members in the future.

 

The Committee resolved by 4 votes to 0 to endorse the recommendation.

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

 

 

 

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.